


Kanej // Lockpicking // Oneshot

by luckyjesper



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-12-07 11:40:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11622777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luckyjesper/pseuds/luckyjesper
Summary: Kaz teaches Inej the basics of lockpicking after joining the Dregs (pre-SOC timeline).





	Kanej // Lockpicking // Oneshot

**Author's Note:**

> Suggested by my friend @roses_and_starlight on Tumblr.  
> Word Count: 1,357  
> Requests for drabbles and oneshots are open at my tumblr www.luckyjesper.tumblr.com  
> I had to do a tiny bit of research on the mechanics of lockpicking, but it may not be entirely accurate. I apologize in advance. Otherwise, enjoy!

“This isn’t what I had in mind when you suggested this,” said Inej, her arms folded tightly across her chest against the cold.

A bitter rain had descended upon Ketterdam that day, a chill resonating within the thick atmosphere near the Geldcanal. It left Inej trembling in the loose scraps she’d received from the Dregs upon her inception, and the winds cut through the fabric like a brutal, frozen knife, landing on the skin underneath. Goose pimples pricked over the skin of her bare arms. At least the strong scent of salt from the harbors had been diluted.

“What better practice than experiencing it under accurate conditions?” Kaz leaned against the door of the only mansion enshrouded in the long shadow of the Geldrenner Hotel, drumming his fingers along the cruel beak of the crow head adorning the handle of his cane. When Inej had first seen it, she’d felt colder than she did at that moment, but the chill didn’t last nearly as long. She barely cast it a glance, her eyes trailing the exterior of the mansion Kaz had considered a target. Apparently, its owner was out of Ketterdam on business, likely to do with the foreign exchange of new goods likely to start rolling into the harbors on cargo-laden ships. Her gaze fell away from the hulking mass of the house to what Kaz might call the bulls-eye of the target: the lock of the door, recently polished to a gleam.

“Why here?” Her teeth started chattering. “Why a mercher’s home, of all places? What if it isn’t empty? What if there are guard dogs? What if there’s  _ stadwatch _ nearby? What if there’s children inside?”

“Simple questions, simple answers.” Kaz dug into his pocket and flashed a whistle. “This will take care of the mongrels.” He returned the whistle, then retrieved a small pistol from a pocket within his coat. “Dispatch any guards with a bullet in the leg.” In seconds, the little weapon had disappeared back to its rightful place. “And children can be silenced with some convincing. But if you’re quiet, you won’t have to deal with them this late at night.”

Inej thought what if must feel like to be a child, all tucked into bed and immersed in wistful dreams, oblivious to the shadows skulking under the same roof that hovered over their head. It made her stomach churn. “Couldn’t I practice on a safe instead, back at the Slat?”

“What’s the merit in that?”

“There’s certainly no merit in this, either.”

Kaz listed his head and squinted at her. “When a bigger heist needs tending to, you won’t be safe and sound picking locks with all the time in the world on your side. You’ll have to work quickly, otherwise it’s off to Hellgate with you. So.” In a flash, two thin slivers of metal danced along his knuckles into his leather-clad fingers. He held them out to her. His rock salt rasp was low, almost menacing. “Try not to break them.”

That was the voice of Dirtyhands, the voice of the man that would commit any crime if the price was right. It was a voice that made Inej question whether or not she was talking to a boy barely a year older than her or some kind of a monster. It was a voice she could hardly imagine he possessed as a small child. Tentatively, she slid the lockpicks from his hands and knelt down at the door knob. “Guidance, please.”

Bracing against his cane, Kaz brought himself to a crouch. “I think step one’s obvious.”

The sarcasm in his tone compelled Inej to roll her eyes. She examined the slim pieces of metal - one was the pick itself, the other with a sharp bend at its tip - a wrench. With quaking hands, she inserted the tip of the latter piece into the lock at an angle.

“Correct,” said Kaz. “Now the other piece.”

Inej flicked her braid over her shoulder and slid the pick beneath the other. “Now what?”

“A lock has pins within its mechanism. You’ll have to test the amount of pressure you apply to each one to disengage them before you’ll be able to turn it. It’ll require some maneuvering on your part.”

She swallowed hard. “What if it breaks? The lockpick, I mean?”

“Do you really think I’m not prepared for the worst? Now stop with the ‘what if’s’ and get to work.”

Inej wanted nothing more than to kick the cane out from under him and watch him faceplant onto the ground, but now was not the time for petty games, especially when the  _ stadwatch  _ could be making their rounds within the district this very moment - Kaz had neglected to inform her on whether or not it’d be an issue, but she was certain it had to be.

She took a deep breath and leaned in close, carefully slipping the pick through the pins in the lock.

“Too slow.” Kaz’s breath tickled the edge of Inej’s ear. “You need more momentum.”

Inej inhaled sharply through her nose and jerked the pick back and forth. She heard a tiny click.  _ That was easy _ , she thought triumphantly, and started to withdraw the pick.

“You’re not done.”

“It clicked!” she exclaimed in a whisper.

Kaz’s smirked. “Really? Then you disengaged one pin, but not all of them. Keep going.”

Inej pursed her lips and adjusted her grip on the pick. Her wrist flicked as she tried to disengage another pin. “What are we even looking for in here?”

“A DeKappel worth a couple coffers full of  _ kruge _ . Nothing too strenuous for a novice of the Dregs.”

_ A painting?  _ Inej continued with the lock, but then she froze. “Wait,” she said. “You don’t intend for me to go in by myself, do you?” When Kaz just looked at her, she only sighed and shook her head. “Fine.”

“Really? You don’t want further guidance?”

“I can take care of myself.” Another pin clicked. “Now shut up and let me focus.”

Kaz’s eyebrows shot into his hairline, but then he shrugged and turned his gaze to the lock.

The next few minutes were a struggle for Inej. She was baffled as to how she managed to release two of the pins, and for a long while it seemed like she couldn’t unfasten another. Frustration built within her chest like a festering infection, plaguing her mind with doubts. What if she couldn’t do this? What if she wasn’t fit for the Dregs?

No, she was being foolish. If Kaz could do it - a teenage boy with little more experience than her of what the real world was like to people like them - then she could do it, too.

_ Click.  _ Her annoyance started to dwindle like a candle that had been lit too long. A new flame of hope supplanted it within her heart.  _ Click _ . Two minutes.  _ Click.  _ Another three.  _ Click _ .

“Got it,” said Inej, turning the lock with satisfaction.

Kaz rose up alongside her, relying on his cane to do so smoothly. “Perfect. A few more attempts, and you’ll be an expert in no time. Or, at the very least, much quicker.” He nodded to the door. “I’ll head in.”

Inej planted her hand around the knob before he could reach it and narrowed her eyes at him. “I thought I was going in for the grab.”

“I changed my mind.”

“Change it back. You said you needed a spider, a ghost. Someone who can be invisible, who can be a spy. Let me be a thief, too. Let me be invisible. Let me help you.”

He looked down at her, the muscles in his jaw working. She wasn’t sure if he was agitated or amused, and his tone offered no hints when he said, “Fine. But you’ll need these.” He drew out the whistle, the pistol, and a couple extra picks.

Inej took them and swiftly placed them in her own pockets. Then she entered the house without another word, leaving Kaz alone in the freezing cold with nothing but his cane. She could’ve sworn he was grinning like an idiot as the door shut behind her.


End file.
